When you say a buck poop that was the "size of a pop can", are you refering to the entire thing, or just the individual pellets?

If it were the individual pellets, then that was ONE BIG DEER , as my HORSE'S individual pellets are about half that size, and he weighs in at a little over 1000 pounds!!!

Deer pellets will bind together at certain times of the year depending on their diet. When they are eating "soft mast", it will be more moist, and therefore will "clump" more. When they are primarily browsing then it will be drier, and the pellets will separate as soon as it hits the ground or before even.

Have seen this many times jonny5buck. For me it's the sign of a better than average buck. Most are round, about the size of an ear of corn, or less, and on average 3 to 6" in length. Most seem to be pellets that were soft at some point and smashed together. When a big buck gets up from his bed,(under normal conditions) he will take a dump before he goes too far. If he is feeding in a relatively small area for any length of time, there will be his droppings all around. Kind of kept this to myself for many many years. Even used to destroy them so others hunting the area would not question or learn from it. One time I was doing a seminar on rattling and mouth grunt calling. I had recently learned of these droppings, so I brought some to show the group so they could have knowledge of it. Most laughed and snickered about the droppings(I think they thought I was a little waco). Anyway. that was the last time I brought it up, ever. I have always looked at it this way, the bigger round it is, the bigger the A-hole, the bigger the buck.

If you are still able to hunt that tornado sticken area, you should check it out throughly. It could be that Kendal Co. twin. You never know what could be rattled in or comming down the trail. If there are a lot of downed trees, it should be a good bedding area.

@Charlie 01- Thanks for the reply..i appreciate it...it's nice to hear what i already thought...Big BOY lives close by...and the yr i found the big tracks and scat was the same yr.i kicked up a giant buck on the opposite end of this field...when it was soybeans he let me get about 18 yds before he bolted..bedded in a thick locust stand and briars...he was as gray as can be and the rack was wider than his body..of course i had my climber on my back and bow in my hand..looking up at the tree i was going to set up in.....he caught me off guard..i never ever expected a 4yr old buck to stay on bed and let me get that close....when he got up he ran and never looked back and never blew air...just gone...i still smiled...the deer are still teaching me stuff...schooling me if you will....

I never seen him at all the rest of that season..and i believe the big popcan nuggets came from one bigger ...a completely different buck...i keep my enthusiam in check ,but when i see sign like that i can't help but think if i log enough hunts playing the wind in my favor....and dont pressure this spot it could produce..BIG time---

Sounds like a good plan. Only down side is, sometimes the old guys start to regress antler wise. I've been watching one particular buck for 3yrs, and hunted him for 2yrs. He is quite nocturnal, by all the trailcam pics I get of him. Last season the only day time pic was Jan. 18th, and the season ended on the 16th. The year before, got 4 day time pics for the whole season, unfortunately for me those were days I was not there. Thats all you can do is play the wind and hunt him as much as you dare with the thought that at some point he will make that one time mistake, and you know you will most likely only get one chance. With his night time travels, he will know you have been there. It is a lot of work and a lot of frustration hunting one particular big buck. You should put up a trailcam to see exactly what he is. That would have been really interesting to have put a camera at that bedding area where all those big droppings were. If those big guys have a good bedding area where they are not bothered, they will always come back to it no matter how far they travel for food or does. Big bucks like safe havens. Sometimes you can catch him comming back early in the morn. after chasing does all night. I read where the State radio collard a buck, and it swam accross a river and back every night. I don't remember if the deer was on an island or just the other side of the river. That must have been his safe haven to go back to every night.

I'll have to put some of the pics of the one I'm after. I hope he will be around this comming season.

charlie 01 wrote:Jon, have you ever looked for sheds in this area of big deer sign?

No i havent...i mushroom hunt it but by then everything is so green it would be hard to see em...i never gave it a thought to look there for sheds..besides im pretty bad at it seems...im not a bad shroomer though-- - the terrain is something to see...it's a huge gulley ..a huge one,that goes up top to a remote crop field...when there is soy beans i see scrapes as early as sept.....not a ton of rubs ...but scrapes on the bean edge...i believe corn will be in this yr ....and almost no oaks....so it's a crap shoot....it is defienetly on my radar..but i have quite a bit of land elsewhere to hunt with a better buck to doe ratio.....and lots of acorns and fields..and marshes....

The prop. where i found the scat may have a monster for sure...i think he has passed his prime..if no-one got him or seen him...i might dedicate some time here next yr.....its one of those spots you could set 3 days and only see one doe...